Firstly, it looks completely stunning. It definitely still has that sheen that comes with most games that have been given the PS4 HD treatment, but the environments, lighting and facial animations are all beautifully detailed. The clickers in this seemed less scary - they're more obvious and seem to move in less varied predetermined patterns, making them more predictable. I also found that they were more inclined to bite your face off, even if you were crouched down, not moving and being completely silent. Only a small niggle.
The story is set after an event in The Last Of Us that leaves Joal gravely injured, and sees Ellie making tracks to retrieve medical supplies to sort him out. She must navigate an abandoned mall searching for supplies whilst avoiding or tackling a hostile group of humans. More often, the encounters with humans feel more tense than those with the infected. It was great fun when being searched for by the humans to lob in a glass bottle and watch as the infected rushed in to sort them out for you.
In parallel to this, we are also treated to flashbacks to a time before Ellie met Joel where she meets an old friend Riley. They too explore an abandoned shopping mall and encounter infected in what becomes a really touching and emotional story between two friends. Their decision at the end is particularly moving and the whole story is really compelling.
The gameplay is much the same as The Last Of Us, sneaking around, crafting items and weapons and focusing your hearing to stake out enemies. There are also some QTEs, which didn't always work great for me. I recall once where an infected grabbed Ellie's leg and I was prompted to press square to kick it off. This didn't work for me until about the 5th attempt which was frustrating, and takes away somewhat from the tension of the chase...
The story is fairly short, too which at the PSN price of £7.99 isn't great, but luckily I was able to grab this in the summer sale for just £2.49. It's a real bargain and is really worth it for fans of the original to expand on an already engrossing, engaging and emotional story.
Highly recommended, and if I had to score only those small gameplay niggles would bring it down. 8/10.
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